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Life after lockdown: Local is lekker, small is sublime, neighbourhood is nice

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James Blignaut is Professor extraordinaire attached to the School of Public Leadership, Stellenbosch University and honorary research associate attached to the South African Environmental Observation Network (SAEON). The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of any of the institutions he might be associated with.

Covid-19 and global lockdowns have brought about tectonic shifts in social relations: The very rich have become obscenely rich, personal freedoms were waived as authoritarianism deepened, local value chains were destroyed, and we crossed a vital ecological threshold. It is time that we, the people, take back control.

The dark clouds of lockdown are gradually, yet gratefully, lifting. Within the wake of their heavy shadows we start to see the devastation caused.  Businesses shattered, value-chains bruised, indebtedness in free fall, hunger a daily reality, and people psychologically scarred – perhaps for life – hiding their fears behind masks of pretence, innocently washing their hands (this devastation was not their doing). 

South Africa is now more, not less, vulnerable than ever before. People are turning away from each other to mind their own businesses, while seeking ways to chart their much-needed respective roads to economic recovery at risk of failing to look behind and extend a helping hand to others. This, however, is insignificant compared to the real risk we face now.

Life after lockdown is life in the much haunted and discussed cauldron of the “new normal”. The new normal is not a thing; it is not an Instagram photo, a TikTok video or a post on social media. It is the realisation that we live in a time saturated by an immense number of highly disruptive unknowable unknowns that can befall us from anywhere at any moment, and yet again rip apart our tender, newfound freedom and way of life. This provides a practical interpretation of the theoretic concept of dynamic complexity that requires ongoing adaptive management.

While the reality of the new normal, together with the uncertainty it brings, is sinking in, we start to realise the seismic social change the lockdown, and not the Covid-19 virus, brought about. Not denying the prevalence of the virus and the resultant deaths, it was the management of the disease that caused various social and institutional tectonic plates to shift. Four interlinked yet discernibly different ones will briefly be highlighted here. 

First, respect was all but obliterated with no indication that it will be re-honoured soon. Hard-earned constitutional and personal freedoms were waived while violence, brutality and bloodshed, notably also from law and order personnel, increased. People were treated cattle-like and funnelled, loaded and trucked to destinations unknown in double quick time, with information and the so-called scientific data unavailable, even till today.  

Second, the insatiable lust for power was blatantly revealed, usurped… not likely to be returned. Those in high office dictated to an entire nation when and how to roll a zol, take a smoke, have a drink, go for a run on the beach, what to buy when – all with the arrogant audacity that these so-called measures were in our best interest. In a country filled with adults, the power-hungry took parent-like decisions as if on behalf of infants. Under the guise of public welfare, and much supported by newly crowned surveillance technology, the ideological and practical control over markets, movements and money became absolute.

Third, the previously fragile societal moral compass was blasted into smithereens, with seemingly no willingness to mend it. Examples vary from systemic corruption with officials stealing food from the plates of children, to the affluent becoming unprecedentedly rich.  

It is easy to fall into a trap of despair. Despondency enveloped in powerlessness brews a lethal cocktail of deep-seated discontent, even hatred: the breeding ground of lawlessness. 

In the period 18 March to 17 August 2020, the wealth of the 12 richest men in the US grew by $283-billion, now totalling a combined portfolio of more than $1-trillion. During the last two weeks of August 2020 alone, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos’ wealth increased by approximately $20-billion each to more than $100-billion and $200-billion respectively, with Musk becoming the fourth centibillionaire; unmasking the schism between what is legally permissible and ethically defensible for all with eyes to see.

Fourth and last, the religion of greed in the relentless pursuit of the idols of our time pushed the world into an ecological territory hitherto unknown. On 22 August 2020 the world crossed an important threshold: the year’s available life-essential ecosystem services, or budget of ecosystem services, has been depleted – for the rest of the year we are borrowing nature’s services from our children and grandchildren.

For some, this is merely incidental and trivial information. Others respond with a zealot-like zeal, elevating the plight of nature above that of people’s basic needs. Irrespective of the position taken on this continuum, restorative and regenerative action remains abysmal while nature’s erosion scars are showcasing a system in peril – mirroring our inner pain and inability to deal with ourselves and our institutional and governance failures.

The changes in and the combined pressures of the tectonic plates of disrespect, power, immorality and greed, leave the everyday Thabo, Dick and Sarah exposed, vulnerable, and at the complete mercy of the very people who effected, orchestrated, and/or were at the helm at the time these seismic changes occurred. 

It is easy to fall into a trap of despair. Despondency enveloped in powerlessness brews a lethal cocktail of deep-seated discontent, even hatred: the breeding ground of lawlessness. 

Is revolution, globally, inevitable? Perhaps, but it need not be. There is a small chance for the citizenry to act without falling into the abyss of lawlessness: the realisation that small is beautiful and local is lekker; the (re-)establishing of local networks and short value chains, combined with decisive acts of kindness that restore relationships among people, family members, nature and so on. 

This implies support for the local grocer, farmers’ market or food club, telling your own restoration story, and strengthening trust among neighbours – building bridges. 

We, the people, are constrained only by our imagination to restore and regenerate – while celebrating the beauty of life. While we treasure life as immeasurably beautiful, be that beauty in the soil, water, plants and animals or even humans, we can – no we will – overcome. We are not without power; it is time to heal. DM

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